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Rules for Scheduling Oral Sessions at National Meetings

Adopted August 28, 2005 (Committee on Meetings & Expositions)

To optimize the use of meeting rooms available to ACS and to minimize the number of conflicting sessions the Meetings & Expositions Committee has established the following rules for the scheduling of oral sessions at national meetings.

A division program of up to 10 half-day oral sessions may be scheduled Sunday morning through Thursday afternoon in any manner the program chair wishes as long as no two sessions meet at the same time. For larger programs, all ten half-day sessions must be completely filled before an additional concurrent session will be allowed. No division may schedule a third concurrent session unless there are more than 20 sessions in the program.

Thursday Afternoon Exception

(Passed at the New Orleans M&E Committee Meeting-2008)

Divisions may choose not to program on Thursday afternoons but their program must otherwise be even. Divisions that choose not to program on Thursday afternoon may not increase their room usage on Monday or Tuesday to compensate.

National Award Exception

A single instance of uneven programming on one half-day from Sunday through Thursday will be permitted for the purpose of enhancing the quality of symposia honoring national ACS award recipients, provided that the greater-than-peak scheduling occurs on Sunday, Wednesday, or Thursday. This is limited to Awards Administered by ACS. The definition of a single instance is that moving one session would be sufficient to make the program fit the rules.

Noncompliant Programs

In those unusual cases where programs violate the even programming rules, the Meetings & Expositions Committee will work with the program chair to seek a resolution. If the program chair is unwilling or unable to modify the program, M&E or its designee will make the necessary adjustments on behalf of the division. Any program adjustments made by M&E or its designee will be made in such a manner as to minimize the impact on the program and optimize the meeting room usage.

Special Exceptions

If space can be found, special exceptions to these rules may be granted when M&E believes that such an exception will improve the overall quality of the technical program.